SdKfz 222 Armored Car
|upkeep = |prereq = None |production_struc = Panzer-Jäger Kommand |primary_weapon = 2 cm KwK 30 Autocannon |secondary_weapon = Co-axial 7.92mm MG42 Light Machine Gun |garrison = |health = |armor = Light |speed = 7.5 m/s |produces = |num_abilities = 1 |abilities = Overdrive * Increases the vehicle's speed by 50%, doubles acceleration and triples deceleration. * Costs * Duration: 30 seconds * Cooldown: 60 seconds |upgrades = }} The SdKfz 222 Light Armored Car, known in-game as the Armored Car, is a Panzer Elite light attack vehicle featured in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. Although lightly-armored and quite fragile, this fast vehicle has a powerful 20mm autocannon that can make short work of enemy vehicles and infantry. Used on the flanks of an attack, it can quickly overtake and destroy almost anything except tanks. Its Overdrive ability gives it a temporary but significant boost of speed, used either for flanking or for escaping. Overview The SdKfz 222 Light Armored Car is considered one of the Panzer Elite's core vehicles. With excellent speed and a powerful offensive weapon, it is the epitome of a Panzer Elite vehicle design - emphasizing brute offensive force over defense. The Light Armored Car is produced by the Panzer-Jäger Kommand structure, for the cost of , , . The vehicle is a 4-wheeled automobile with a lightly-armored exterior and a powerful engine. At the top of the vehicle is a closed turret, mounting both a rapid-firing 20mm Autocannon and an MG42 Light Machine Gun. Although sharing the same general design as a Scout Car, the Light Armored Car is more suitable for assault than reconnaissance. The 2 cm (20mm) KwK 30 Autocannon installed in its turret is an accurate, powerful, and rapid-firing cannon that can easily tear apart both light and medium vehicles, and is quite capable at destroying enemy infantry squads without breaking a sweat. The addition of a co-axial 7.92mm MG42 Light Machine Gun only increases its firepower potential against such targets. The Light Armored Car has only one special ability, but it is quite useful: the Overdrive ability gives the vehicle a temporary 50% Maximum Speed boost, coupled with great acceleration and deceleration properties, enabling it to quickly outflank enemy units and positions to attack them from an unexpected angle. One or more cars, in support of infantry or other vehicles, can quickly overwhelm an enemy force. The speed boost also allows the vehicle to escape to avoid being destroyed by superior opponents, since after all it is only lightly-armored and will not survive a direct assault by anything more powerful than a basic infantry squad. Weapons The Light Armored Car is equipped with two weapons: A primary 2 cm KwK 30 Autocannon, and a 7.92mm MG42 Light Machine Gun. Both weapons are mounted co-axially to each other on the vehicle's turret, and will generally fire at the same target. While the Autocannon destroys vehicles, the LMG is more suitable for killing and suppressing infantry. 2 cm KwK 30 Autocannon The 2 cm KwK 30 Autocannon is the Light Armored Car's primary weapon. Originally designed as an anti-aircraft gun, like all other AA guns in the game it is significantly more useful against ground targets - especially infantry and light vehicles. The weapon fires massive 20mm shells in 4-5 round bursts, with waiting periods of between 4 and 7 seconds between each burst. Each shell causes between 25 and 30 damage points. The main advantage of this cannon is its accuracy. At maximum range (35 meters) every second shell will hit its target. At 20 meters, 3 out of every 4 shells will hit. This is enough to kill the average infantryman in about 4 shots, making this a terrific anti-infantry weapon. It can even snipe infantrymen out of buildings. The Autocannon can also take out enemy light vehicles. It is exceptional against Jeeps, and will make short work of an M3 Halftrack. It may struggle to kill an M8 Greyhound though, due to some arbitrary damage reduction and lack of reliable Penetration. It will also struggle going up against a T17. Against heavier vehicles, the Light Armored Car is unfortunately much less useful. It lacks the penetration to pierce the front armor of tanks. Only 1 out of 10 shells will penetrate the rear armor of vehicles like the Cromwell Tank, and only 1 out of 14 will penetrate a M4 Sherman's rear armor. Nonetheless, with several Light Armored Cars attacking the rear armor of a tank, they can do considerable damage, possibly even damaging the engine. Due to the turret in which it is mounted, the weapon can rotate 360 degrees to fire at any target within range. The Armored car will also automatically fire at any hostile airplanes making it a good early anti air unit. 7.92mm MG42 Light Machine Gun The Light Armored Car is also equipped with a co-axial 7.92mm MG42 Light Machine Gun, a common Axis weapon installed on many other vehicles and infantry units. The particular version of the MG42 mounted on a Light Armored Car is about average in terms of firing rate and accuracy, being more accurate at longer ranges than an infantry-carried MG42, and less accurate at close-range. It delivers 5 points of damage per bullet that hits the target. This weapon is useful for killing infantry, thus augmenting the killing potential of the car's main cannon. Unfortunately, the Suppression values on this gun are severely reduced, so it is more likely to kill an infantry unit before it becomes "Suppressed" or "Pinned-Down". Note that this weapon is co-axial to the main cannon, meaning that the two weapons will normally point in the same direction and hence fire at the same target. The MG42 is biased towards infantry targets though, so if the main cannon is engaging a tank, for instance, the MG42 may seek infantry within its narrow firing cone instead. Abilities The Light Armored Car has a single manually-activated ability called Overdrive. This ability temporarily boosts the vehicle's speed, for flanking maneuvers or quick escapes. Overdrive * Costs * Activation: Immediate * Duration: 30 seconds * Cooldown: 60 seconds * Incurs a slight fuel penalty When the Overdrive ability is activated, the Light Armored Car receives the following bonuses immediately: * +50% Maximum Speed, giving the vehicle a total Max Speed of 11.25 m/s. * Doubled acceleration speed. * Tripled deceleration speed. These bonuses remain active for a period of 30 seconds. During this time, the vehicle becomes incredibly maneuverable, capable of overtaking almost any other ground-vehicle in the game, but most importantly capable of quickly flanking an enemy unit or position during combat. This is especially useful for combined-arms assaults. While a stronger unit attacks the enemy from the front, drawing its fire, the Light Armored Car kicks into Overdrive and races around to attack the enemy from the rear. In this manner, it may be possible to do serious damage to enemy light tanks, emplacements, or even medium tanks, without putting the fragile Light Armored Car in any significant danger. When attacking enemy tanks, this extra speed can also allow you to outrun the turning speed of the target's turret, thus preventing it from firing at your Armored Car. The speed boost can also be useful for evacuating the Light Armored Car out of a dangerous situation. No other ground vehicle owned by the Allies can match the Armored Car's speed when this ability is active. Still, always aim to retreat towards a defensible position. Once the active period ends, the bonus disappears, and the vehicle has to endure 30 additional seconds of cooldown. Unfortunately, this is one of the few Munitions-activated abilities that are not affected by the Supply Aura of a Munitions Halftrack, so there is no way to shorten the cooldown period between uses. After patch 2.400, this ability is only usable if the vehicle has no engine damage. Veterancy Like all other Panzer Elite units, the Light Armored Car can attain 3 levels of Veterancy, by accumulating experience points from the killing of enemy units. As it gains levels, its performance will increase proportionally. Accumulation Like all other Panzer Elite units, the Light Armored Car uses the Panzer Elite Shared Veterancy system to accumulate Veterancy points. In this system, units share experience from their kills with each other, within a certain radius. Each kill the Light Armored Car makes will grant it 100% of the experience value of the killed unit. In addition, it will pass 50% of that value to any Panzer Elite units within 35 meters of itself. Vicariously, the Light Armored Car receives 50% of the experience value of kills made by other Panzer Elite units within 35 meters. Bonuses Every time the Light Armored Car gains a level, you'll be asked to choose which Veterancy Upgrade you wish to apply to it - either a Defensive bonus or an Offensive bonus, but not both. You can choose a different bonus at each Veterancy level, if you want. The bonuses described below are specific to each level. Due to the way they are applied on top of each other, when computed together (see below) they may or may not add up as you may expect. When these bonuses are computed together with each other as well as the unit's basic statistics, the results at each level are as follows: * Click the button at the top-right corner to view the entire table. The Light Armored Car can benefit greatly from both the Defensive and Offensive Veterancy bonuses, making a choice between them very difficult. On the one hand, the vehicle is quite fragile, and a bonus to Maximum Health and Damage Reduction will keep it alive longer during battles (not to mention the speed bonus, which can easily make it the fastest vehicle in the game). On the other hand, this vehicle's primary function is its weaponry, both of which would become that much deadlier with the Offensive Bonuses, providing faster firing and a greatly increased chance to penetrate the armor on medium tanks. Regardless of your final choice, it is advised that you at least pick the Defensive bonus at Veterancy Level 1. The impact of this bonus is very significant compared to Defensive levels 2 and 3, so it is worth taking even if you want to continue with the Offensive bonuses afterwards. Tactics The Light Armored Car is often considered one of the Panzer Elite's core units. Despite its surprisingly weak armor and low health score, the car compensates with incredible speed and firepower. As such, it is one of the most important units in the Panzer Elite's defensive and offensive forces. Defensively, the Light Armored Car can quickly engage enemy infantry and fast-moving vehicles as they attempt to enter Panzer Elite-controlled territory and destroy them. Unless the infantry are armed with anti-tank launchers, they will quickly succumb to the heavy shells fired by the 2 cm Autocannon and MG42 LMG installed on the car. Light vehicles, like Jeeps and Bren Carriers, are likely to get destroyed if they don't flee immediately. A single Light Armored Car can provide protection to several sectors at once, thanks to its ability to drive quickly from one combat zone to the next. Offensively, a Light Armored Car is a very powerful weapon when fielded early, as it can drive straight into enemy territory and hunt early enemy units with ease. If trouble comes its way, it can always go into Overdrive and escape, but until the enemy begins producing medium vehicles, tanks, or anti-tank infantry, this is unlikely to occur very often. Later in the game, the Light Armored Car can provide crucial assistance to attacking Panzer Elite forces. Instead of taking the enemy head-on, the Light Armored Car can drive along the flanks, boosting its speed at a crucial moment to zoom past the enemy defenses and attack them from the rear. It can cause significant damage to enemy Infantry units - especially Weapon Teams - and retreat just as quickly if heavier units show up or decide to target it. If the need for a flanking force is not required, the Light Armored Car can still provide screening on the flanks by patrolling the edges of the combat zone for incoming enemy reinforcements, or prevent enemy light vehicles from flanking your attacking force. Weaknesses Unfortunately, as powerful as its attack may be, the Light Armored Car is one of the more vulnerable vehicles in the Panzer Elite arsenal. Its armor is too light to deflect anything but the lightest bullets, exposing the car to damage from Heavy Machine Guns upwards. A few tank shells will destroy the vehicle, not to mention an artillery attack. Fortunately, the Light Armored Car's speed can quickly remove it from a battle zone for repairs - it should never confront heavy units on its own. As to anti-tank infantry, these pose a unique dilemma. On the one hand, a few shots from a Bazooka can destroy the Light Armored Car (if they can hit it), but on the other hand the 20mm Autocannon may be able to kill them first thanks to its rapid, accurate fire. In these situations, you must make a quick decision based on the situation at the time. If the car is close to being destroyed, high-tail it out of there immediately. Never let the infantry get too close, so that you always have time to escape. Historical Data From Wikipedia: The Leichter Panzerspähwagen (German: roughly "Light Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicle") were a series of light four-wheel drive armored car produced by Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1944. They were developed by Eisenwerk Weserhütte of Bad Oeynhausen. Chassis were built by Auto Union in Zwickau and assembled by F. Schichau of Elbing and Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen in Hanover-Linden. It used the standard sPkw I Horch 801 (heavy car) chassis with an angled armoured body and turret. The rear mounted engine was a 67 kW (90 hp) Horch 3.5 petrol engine, giving it a road speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) and a cross-country speed of 40 km/h (25 mph). It had a maximum range of 300 km (186 mi). Used by the reconnaissance battalions (Aufklärungs-Abteilung) of the Panzer Elite, the type performed well enough in countries with good road networks, like those in Western Europe. However, on the Eastern Front and North Africa, this class of vehicle was hampered by its relatively poor off-road performance. In those theaters, it gradually found itself replaced in the reconnaissance role by the SdKfz 250 half-track. The SdKfz 250/9 was the SdKfz 250 with the same turret as the SdKfz 222. The Sdkfz 222 was examined by Soviet designers before they created the similar BA-64 light armoured car. Front and sides were made of 8 mm (0.3 in) steel; thinner 5 mm (0.2 in) plates protected the top, rear, and bottom. Cast vision ports later replaced ports cut into the armour. The open topped turret was fitted with wire mesh anti-grenade screens. It is armed with 2 cm KwK 30 L/55 Autocannon and MG42 coxial machine gun. Gallery Category:Vehicles Category:Panzer Elite Units